Report: Lawsuit over Broncos ownership dismissed

The lawsuit that was expected to define the future of the Denver Broncos ownership situation has been dismissed, per a report from 9News’ Kevin Vaughan and Mike Klis.

Brought by Amie Bowlen Klemmer and Beth Bowlen Wallace — Pat Bowlen’s two children from his first marriage — the lawsuit alleged the Broncos owner didn’t have the mental capacity to understand his estate plans due to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and was under undue influence to approve them in 2009.

The documents set up a trust — consisting of Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis, Rich Slivka and Mary Kelly — to determine the team’s future ownership, whether that’d be within the Bowlen family or through a sale of the club.

Klis reports that the motion to dismiss says that all parties have agreed and that the court finds that the 2009 estate planning documents as amended are “valid, enforceable and reflect Patrick D. Bowlen’s intent and will.”

“Petitioners will no longer contend the 2009 Estate Planning Documents were the result of undue influence,” Klis reported.

Klis also reports that court documents say that Ellis, Slivka and Kelly, “as the duly appointed trustees under the PDB (Pat Bowlen) Trust, have the full and complete authority to administer the PDB Trust in accordance with the terms and provisions of the PDB Trust.”

Joining “The Drive” to break down the situation, Klis said that as of Wednesday afternoon it’s unsure whether a settlement had been reached between both sides.

“The presumption here is that the trustees can now carry on with however they want to go forward,” Klis said. “That doesn’t mean that the trustees are going to make Brittany (Bowlen) the owner. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to sell the team. These are things that we still have to find out, what type of agreement has been made, if any, for this to get dismissed.”

The dismissal comes just more than two weeks after the judge in the case called off what was expected to be a four-week trial.

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